Opponents of Alabama strict Immigration Law Win Victory

Opponents of Alabama strict Immigration Law Win Victory.

It appears that opponents of Alabama  strict immigration law have won a victory. Last week the state of Alabama agreed not to defend the portion of the law that opponents labeled as racial profiling. The law was enacted in 2011.This U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year refused to hear the appeal filed by the state against a federal court ruling which had in fact gutted the onerous law.

The Alabama law had been viewed by many as the toughest in the country. The law was known as HB 56.  Opponents wasted no time in appealing it as soon as it became law.  The U.S. Justice Department joined a group of civil rights and religious organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, in   challenging the law.  The law became widely known as the “Show me Your Papers Law.”

According to NPR, the Southern Poverty Law Center recently listed the provisions of the law that are now permanently blocked:

• Requiring schools to verify the immigration status of newly enrolled K-12 students.
• Criminalizing the solicitation of work by unauthorized immigrants.
• A provision that made it a crime to provide a ride to undocumented immigrants or to rent to them.
• A provision that infringed on the ability of individuals to contract with someone who was undocumented.
• A provision that criminalized failing to register one’s immigration status.

As part of the settlement, Alabama will reportedly pay approximately $350,000 in legal costs in favor of the coalition that fought the immigration law. Final resolution of the case is still pending a court review.

We have expressed in the past our support for immigration reform in this country and we continue to do so.  Every victory gained, regardless of how small, is a victory that impacts the future of our country. Every step that removes racial profiling is a huge victory for all Americans.  We are a nation composed of people of many nationalities, when one of us is profiled because of the color of our skin, the language we speak, or for the way we look, all Americans suffer.  After all, no two of us are alike….

I am Attorney Martin E. Regan, JR and these are my personal thoughts…